[59.12] FUSE Observations of O VI towards the Southern Coalsack

B-G Andersson, R.L. Shelton (JHU), P.G. Wannier (JPL)

We present FUSE observations of atomic and ionic absorption
lines towards three stars in the direction of the nearby
"Southern Coalsack" dark cloud. The distances of the stars
bracket that of the cloud and allow us to address the issue
of where along the line of sight the spectral lines
originate. In particular, we find that the major part of the
O VI absorption is likely associated with the dark cloud.